Learning how to use a guitar pick to play the guitar can be awkward at best, and downright frustrating at worst. Here we have some guidelines for you to help you learn how to use a guitar pick properly.

Here is what you need to know how to do:

1. First you are going to want to open up your picking hand, and you are going to want to turn the palm of your hand so that it is facing you.
2. Now you are going to want to close up your hand, making a relatively loose fist. The thumb on that hand should remain just beside the index finger in your loose fist.
3. Now you are going to rotate your hand in such a way that you are looking at the profile of your fist, and the thumb's knuckle should be facing in your direction.
4. Now, with the other hand you are going to want to slide the pick between the thumb and the index finger. You should make sure that you have the pick located behind the thumb's knuckle at this point.
5. Now you are going to want to make sure that the pick's pointing end is facing away from your fist, and it should be protruding by approximately half of an inch. Make sure that you are firmly holding the pick in place at this point.
6. Now you should be positioning the picking hand over the acoustic guitar's sound hole, or over the guitar's body. The picking hand, with the knuckle of the thumb still facing in your direction, should be hovering above all of the guitar strings.
7. Make sure that you are not resting the picking hand on your guitar's strings or on the body of the guitar.
8. Now you should be using your wrist for the purpose of motion rather than using your entire arm, and you should strike the lowest string on the guitar, which is the sixth string, using a downward motion. If the string rattling in an excessive manner, then you should try striking that string just a little bit softer, or while using less of the actual surface of the pick.
9. Now you are going to want to pick that same string, but this time it should be using an upward motion.
10. Now you are going to want to repeat this process several different times. You should be trying to minimize the motion in the hand that you are picking with. Start with one short stroke downward, and then one upward. This process is one that is known as alternate picking.
11. Now try this same exercise with the fifth string, then the fourth, then the third, the second, and then the first string. Play the scales that you know using the alternate picking method, where you're picking down, then up, then down and so on.

Photo Credits: matsuyuki

Originally posted 2009-10-27 03:42:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Acoustic Musical Instruments, Guitars, Playing Tips

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acoustic guitar, downward motion, fist, guitar strings, index finger, little bit, palm of your hand, sixth string, sound hole, thumb, upward motion